Enrique

Enrique is the book’s main subject. Author Sonia Nazario chose the 17-year-old Honduran as a typical child migrating through Mexico from South America in order to reach the United States and his mother. Enrique’s mother, Lourdes, left him when he was 4 and he’s wanted to find her ever since. Back in Honduras, he became addicted to drugs, shuffled from relative’s home to relative’s home and dropped out of school. He planned for years to find his mother. Nazario recreates his harrowing journey from Honduras to North Carolina and finally to Florida.

Nazario describes Enrique as a sensitive child who only speaks to his mother. Shortly after she leaves, his father also leaves him – the second in a long line of abandonment, which shapes the next nearly 20 years of his life. He’s angry and hurt all at the same time. He loves and...